This lesson plan introduces pathways through a brain dance warmup about being on a pirate ship. Students then work in groups to draw and follow locomotor pathways on the floor. Partners explore non-locomotor pathways and create a short sequence. Finally, students work in larger groups to map out a treasure hunt using pathways, including obstacles to navigate around or over. The lesson ends with students recapping what they learned about pathways.

1. Serena and Aleks
DAN 360
01 Mar. 2017
Pathways Lesson Plan
Materials:
Black Dot and Red X (Serena)
Candy (Aleks)
Cardstock (Aleks)
Markers (Serena)
Warm Up: Brain Dance (Time: 5 min)
1. You wake up on a pirate ship and take a few deep breaths in and out smelling that fresh salty
sea air.
2. You can feel the breeze that hits your face (patting your face) and your arms (patting your
arms) and your legs (patting your legs).
3. You wake up and stretch real big (core-distal)
4. You are up on the main deck now, and you look up at the sky and down at the waves. Up at
the sky again and down at the waves.
5. You start to pull at the ropes to let the sails open (pulling downwards keeping feet
grounded). Once they are open, you walk up to the top deck (walking upstairs only moving
lower body).
6. You grab the rope ladder and start climbing up (climbing with the opposite foot and hand).
7. You peer over the left side of the boat holding on to the ladder still (only moving one side of
the body). Then you peer over the right side of the boat.
8. You climb back down the ladder (no action necessary) and you’re back on the main deck
when crazy waves start hitting the boat making you lose your balance (stumbling around).
Good job you lived!
Introduction (Time: 2 min)
What comes to mind when you guys think of pathways? As pirates, we leave footprints in the
sand, and we leave a pathway. In dance, you move through general space with your feet creating
different pathways, and you can create pathways in the air, self-, and general space with different
body parts.
Exploration (Time: 8 min)
We want you guys to form groups of three, and we are going to give each group a piece
of paper and some markers. On your paper, you need to draw one straight path, one curvy path,

2. and one zigzag path. We are going to give you guys just a few minutes to go ahead and get those
pathways drawn before we move on to the next step.
Now that your pathways are drawn, pick one person in your group to be the leader, and
we are going to play follow the leader. (Give everyone a minute to pick a leader.) Everyone is
going to start on one side of the dance floor and follow their group leader in one of the pathways
you have drawn. Once you get to the other end, take another one of your pathways back across
the floor, and repeat until you have traveled all three pathways.
Developing (Time: 5-10 minutes)
Now we want everyone to find a partner. Once you have found a partner, you and your
partner are going to explore non-locomotor pathways. Each group will be getting a slip of paper
with three non-locomotor pathways on it, and you will need to come up with a short sequence
involving those pathways. (Give them a few minutes to come up with a sequence)
If everyone is finished with developing their sequence, we are going to all get in a circle,
and we are just going to go around the circle letting groups present their sequence. As a whole
class, we will repeat the shared sequence.
Creating (Time: 10-15 minutes)
Now we are going to separate you guys into groups of four or five, and we are going to
create treasure maps. There are a couple of guidelines for your treasure map. You must start at
the black dot (on the dance floor) and end at the red X. You must have three different pathways
on your map (straight, curvy, and zigzagged). On your path to the treasure you must encounter a
mountain you have to go around, a river you have to get over, and a rickety bridge you have
cross. [We can write out the guidelines on the white board.] We have paper and markers for you
guys to draw out your maps. When you are thinking about what pathways you are creating to get
from one place to another, think about the non-locomotor pathways you can do with your upper
body. Keep in mind as a group you will be presenting your pathways to the hidden treasure to the
rest of the class.
Cool Down/ Recap (Time: 2-5 minutes)
We are going to get in a circle. Now what did we learn about pathways today? Recap:
Pathways can be zigzagged, curvy, or straight, and pathways can be locomotor and non-
locomotor.